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Opening Space for Democracy: Curriculum for Third-Party Nonviolent Intervention

As part of Training for Change 2004, Daniel Hunter and George Lakey prepared a 634 page training manual on third-party nonviolent intervention called Opening Space for Democracy. The core curriculum (a 159 page PDF) is available for free online and that's a gold mine in itself. Third-party nonviolent intervention is a growing and important social change strategy in movements that are increasingly global in nature. The three to four week core training curriculum is rigorously designed around four techniques (interposition, observing/monitoring, protective accompaniment, and presence) and seven proficiencies (mission, environment, large-scale conflict analysis, immediate conflict skills, team dynamics, personal well-being, and technical skills). I particularly appreciated the appendices, which include recommended reading and a model for a group of nonprofit reservists working to help civil society defend civil society. Posted: 6/2/08; 6:22:33 PM #

Tactical Philanthropy's Coverage of the 2008 Council on Foundations Conference

I wasn't able to attend this year's Council on Foundations Conference, but a number of writers over at Tactical Philanthropy did. Their coverage compiles commentary from an amazing group of contributing writers (in the order of their appearance): Beth Reiter, Sean Stannard-Stockton, Peter Deitz (whose Social Actions site did as well as I had hoped with the folks at NetSquared), Brian Walsh, Taylor Ansley, Carla Javits, Sharna Goldseker, Sandra Bass, Roxie Jerde, Sara Melillo, Peter Manzo, Dahna Goldstein, Chris Cardona, Steve Butz, Debbie Kobak, Jacob Harold, Taylor Ansley, and Rusty Stahl. The Council's openness to bloggers and Sean's wrangling have come together to create an extraordinary resource. Take your time with this one. Posted: 6/2/08; 5:41:07 PM #

GrantCraft Guide on Grants to Individuals
	GrantCraft has produced another excellent guide for grantmakers, this time on the topic of Grants to Individuals. Their download process has become more cumbersome than I recall, but the steps are almost always well worth it. The guide offers five case studies, as well as advice on designing, managing, and evaluating programs that make direct grants to individuals. Posted: 6/2/08; 5:26:16 PM #

Blackbaud Acquires Kintera
	I guess it was only a matter of time before Blackbaud Acquired Kintera. I don't know if I can write dispassionately about this, given my own dotcom experiences. But I do have one question for Blackbaud: Will you let go of any of those overreaching business process patents Kintera has? Posted: 6/2/08; 3:41:24 PM #